Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-01

JUST 'b''h lliAl ~ = ANb bI'NNs
my companion to the attendant and give
me a pennyworth of bread and cup OF
coffee
Soon the pork chop was sizzling on the
| American cooking stove, in the tiny com
partment which answers as the kitchen and
larder of the Shelter. 4 LOnder Shelter is
a neat locking building, with a pointed
roof, about seventeen feet long by six or
six and half wide. II occupies the space
usually allotted to one horse and cab. The
height is ten feet and a half, and the larger
of the two apartments will seat about
twelve persons. 1t Is built of seasoned
pine wood and stands upon small wheels
Here all bIethe two first Cabmen i'll the
ranks can sit and read, or smoke, or take
their rrlreshment. The attendant must
cook for the drivers anything brought in
by them; the charge for which is one cent.
In some of these shelters ] was told that
from one hundred to two hundred men are
served daily. Many of them ara open day
and night The American stove does an
infinite variety of work. Pork Chops, pigs
| fry, scraps of beef and mutton, liver. bacon,
sausagcs and ham are fried on il. HerTings
are brOiled, spratS are baked in the oven,
and eggs, potatoes and green's are boiled.
| A good feed can be obtained for four
pence, and a swell dinner for sixpenCe
! twelve cent?. OF course the service is I'M
conventional. \ plate cup and saucer
knife and fork, general salt and mustard
pot. Napkins and table cloths are dis
! pensed with.
In this way many of the cabmen live,
for more than three thausaDd per day pa
! trOnize the shelters for meals. The num-
Der of shelters have reached thrty-nine, so
that is nearly an average of one hundred
per day Tor each shelter.
A CITY OF CAB AND STAGE DRIVERS.
Grant that the number availing them
selves of the shelters exceed three thou
sand, and we only account for about n
quarter of the London cabmen. | called
at Scotland Yard and was informed that
the licenses issued to drivers and cOnduc-
tors last year was rs follows: II, 252 TO hack
ney drivers, 4, 52S to stage drivers and 6,
337 to conductors, making total of -, III
persons occupied in conveying passengers
from one part Of this great city to the other.
Ihaye not included those employed by the
Metropolitan and District Underground
Railways. Ofthe IA, 252 hackney carriage
licenses issued, not more than twelve thou
sand are in use But this is large num-
Der. Allowing twenty feet for each horse
and cab ii would make cab stand reach
ing nearly forty-siX miles-half the dis
lance between Philadelphia and New York.
A procession might easily be formed by
the London cabs that would reach the
whole distance between the two American
cities named. The cab drivers of London
with their families and those dependent
upon them, alone comprise town of 50,
600 inhabitants, while If we add the stage
drivers and conductors and their families
we should have city of 100, 900 persons
This gives some idea of the Importance OF
the cab and omnibus to London, and of
the number of persons engaged in the oc-
cupatiop As drivers and conductors, TO say
nothirI 1.-The thousands employed in the
stable and indirectly.
PEERS AS CAB PROPRIEToRs.
While the practical London cabman la
ments over the influx of outsiders into his
ranks, the small cab proprietor is greatly
exercised over the advent of several noble
lords into the business as proprietOrs of
cabs. This entree of the aristocracy NAV
be explained as in part fad and in part q
hope of gain. Some thought il would b
a cheap way to keep large stable. How
ever this may be, several members of the
Houses of Peers have gone into the cab
business. Among those whose names
can ne aaasqre Lord Shrewsbury, s. Pm
And, was tcount SayerDake. N -
1iSht. Loss ei5. 600; fully I'M slan''